'Who will remember me?' says Deve Gowda on being left out of Bogibeel Bridge inauguration; ex-PM had laid foundation stone

Bengaluru: Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday expressed disappointment at not being invited for the inauguration of the country’s longest railroad bridge in Assam, though he had laid the foundation stone of it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 4.9-kilometre-long bridge at Bogibeel across the Brahmaputra river, built at a cost of Rs 5,900 crore. [caption id=“attachment_4455321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. Image courtesy: Y Maheswara Reddy[/caption] The foundation stone for the project was laid by Gowda when he was the prime minister in 1997. “Railway lines to Kashmir, Delhi Metro and Bogibeel railroad bridge were among the projects I had sanctioned (as prime minister). I had sanctioned the budget of Rs 100 crore for each of these projects and laid their foundation stones. People have forgotten today,” Gowda said. Replying to a question from reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bengaluru as to how he felt about the inauguration of the project started by him, the former prime minister said he had given the nod for many projects. To a question whether he received an invitation, Gowda quipped, “Aiyo Rama! Who will remember me? Some newspapers might have mentioned about it.” On the enormous delay in completing the project, he said, “That is where I differ. I completed the Hassan-Mysuru project in 13 months. I completed two bridges on time. The Anagwadi bridge (across Ghataprabha). Go and see the bridge on the Krishna river.” “Some people from Bombay Karnataka region say that Deve Gowda did not do anything (for the North Karnataka region). Go and see it,” he added.